Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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326. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will clarify the regulations that are in place to govern the spraying of pesticides by hand and by plane on open farmland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10865/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Revised EU regulations governing the sale and safe use of pesticides came into force in 2011. These regulations cover more specifically, the marketing of pesticides, the sustainable use of pesticides, the collection of statistics on pesticide use and the establishment of minimum standards for new pesticide application equipment. These four separate regulations were commonly referred to as the “pesticides package”.

Pesticide Product approval:

The regulatory system for plant protection products is designed to ensure a very high level of protection for man, animals and the environment. As part of the product authorisation system (Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009), risk assessments are carried out to ensure that;

(a) there are no harmful effects for spray operatives, workers, bystanders or consumers,

(b) there are no unacceptable risks to non-target species (e.g. birds, fish, wild mammals, bees or other insects, earthworms and soil macro- and micro-organisms).

(c) surface and ground waters are protected.

Consequently, only products that can be used safely without any unacceptable risks to man or the environment are authorised for use.

1. Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC and 91/414/EEC.

2. Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides.

3. Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25th November 2009 concerning statistics on pesticides.

4. Directive 2009/127/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 amending Directive 2006/42/EC with regard to machinery for pesticide application.

Regulating the Use phase:

While the above mentioned regulation identifies and quantifies all risks, the Sustainable Use Directive aims to reduce these risks to human health and the environment that are associated with pesticide use. The directive is designed to further enhance the high level of protection achieved through the entire regulatory system for pesticides. This Directive (Directive 2009/128/EC) is transposed into Irish law by Statutory Instrument No. 155 of 2012.

This S.I. prohibits the application of pesticides from aircraft (aerial spraying) except under extenuating circumstances and only after a comprehensive and exhaustive risk assessment is carried out. However, it should be noted that no aerial spraying has been carried out on farmland in Ireland since 1993. On that occasion it was deemed absolutely necessary due to extreme weather conditions and it was carried out under the strict supervision of officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

S.I. No. 155 of 2012 also requires professional users of plant protection products (farmers, landscapers, etc.) to undergo a basic level of training. In addition, this S.I. makes it a requirement that all application equipment exceeding 3 million in working width, as well as orchard and blast sprayers, are tested by November 2016.

While, there is no requirement for hand-held application equipment to be tested because of the low scale of use, the professional users of such equipment are required to have competed the training referred to above. In addition, all professional users are required to apply the general principles of Integrated Pest Management from 1 January, 2014. These principles are set out in the Directive and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have produced a helpful guide on how farmers can comply with this requirement. Further guides will be produced in the coming months on how other categories of professional users can comply with the requirement.

Enforcement:

All legal requirements placed on various people through the regulations mentioned above will be monitored and measured by officials from my Department. This includes inspection at farm level under Statutory Management Requirement No. 10 (plant protection products) but also inspections at retail and wholesale premises that sell plant protection products.

Statutory Instrument No. 155 of 2012 allows for penalties ranging from a “Fixed Payment Notice” of €250 to prosecution through the court system. Where a breach is detected at farm level a disallowance through the Single Payment Scheme may also apply.